Gift Of Love
by InvestInLove
Summary: Olivia's dates tells her he loves her, causing her to walk out, and she somehow finds her self outside Elliot's apartment building...EO. Oneshot.


Gift Of Love

**I was brushing my teeth when I got this idea, and whenever I get the idea for a new fanfic, I always get really excited, so I did and I started brushing my teeth REALLY hard and made them bleed. Hah. Ok. Randomness is over. And it's past one in the morning but I have to start this now or I never will.**

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Olivia Benson stood in front of her bathroom mirror, putting the finishing touches on her make up. She was about to go out on a first date with a guy she'd met the day before, Mitch. He seemed like a nice enough guy, so she was hoping it would go well, although she couldn't get the thought of Elliot out of her head, mostly because of the strange way he'd reacted when she told him she had a date.

**FLASHBACK**

"_Any plans tonight, Liv?" Elliot asked. They had been busy finishing paperwork from their last case that whole entire day, and after the first few hours of work, conversation had slowed._

"_Yeah, actually. I have a date." Olivia said casually._

"_Oh. Anyone I know?" He asked, trying to match her casual tone, but failing miserably._

"_I doubt it. I met him through Simon. His name is Mitch." Olivia said._

"_Oh." Elliot said._

_After that, the conversation died until it was time for them to go. As they were walking out, Elliot caught her eye. "Have a nice date." He said, but it almost sounded sarcastic. _

_Olivia shrugged it off as her overactive imagination. Why would Elliot have a reason to say something like that sarcastically? He couldn't be jealous. There was no way in hell he was jealous. At least, that's what Olivia tried to convince her self._

**END FLASHBACK**

She decided to go with what her head was telling her: She had imagined the sarcasm in his voice and the look in his eyes as he walked out without another word to her. And she had imagined the way he had a slightly angry look in his eyes right after she had first told him about the date, also.

She was about to go on a date with another guy and last thing she needed to be thinking about was Elliot.

She looked over at the clock in the other room. It was 6:30 and she was supposed to meet him at 7:00.

"Perfect timing." She thought as she grabbed her purse and keys and left her apartment. The restaurant was only a few blocks away, but the traffic in New York was always unpredictable, so she decided not to take any chances.

"Don't think about Elliot, don't think about Elliot." She repeated to herself as she got into her cab, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't get him off her mind.

She spent the next 20-minute cab ride thinking about Elliot and thinking of ways not to think about Elliot. Either way, she couldn't get him out of her head.

When she finally arrived at the restaurant, she saw that she was 5 minutes early. Not wanting to go in alone or knowing if they had reservations, she stood outside the door and waited. Part of her hoped he wouldn't show. That way she could just go back home and forget all about him. She could make plans with Elliot; tell him how she really felt about him, but she knew that wasn't possible.

Suddenly she felt two hands rest on her shoulders, interrupting her thoughts. She turned around, seeing Mitch behind her, smiling.

She faked a smile back at him and they walked in the restaurant together. She pretended to be wrapped up in their date at they sat at the table and when the waiter came around to take their order. She pretended to care about his day while they waited for their food, and finally she didn't have to pretend anything anymore, because they ate in silence, and she could sit and think about Elliot without interruptions.

As they were finishing up, Mitch finally spoke again. "Olivia…I had a really nice time tonight. Do you want to go out again?"

She wanted to say no. She wanted to tell him the truth, that she had no interest in him or being in relationship with him what so ever, but she couldn't. He seemed like such a nice guy, not at all threatened by her career, and she couldn't stand to let him down, so she decided that she could handle going back out with him. So she said yes, giving him the perfect opportunity to bring up an uncomfortable subject; Love.

"I know this may sound strange, and a little juvenile, but even though I don't know you that well…I think I love you." He said.

"Oh, god." Olivia thought. "This can't be happening."

"I…I'm sorry." Olivia said. All she could think about was Elliot; she felt like she was betraying him. "I wasn't ready for that. I…have to go."

And without another word, Olivia got up and left him sitting alone, in the middle of a restaurant, ignoring him calling her name.

She walked down the busy street as tears started to fall from her eyes. She couldn't quite explain the reason why.

Maybe it was because there was a perfectly nice guy sitting in a restaurant, feeling betrayed by her. One who loved her and seemed like the type of guy who'd never hurt her; who'd never break her heart…And yet she didn't want him. She didn't love him. She wanted Elliot.

It took her a while to figure out where she was going, but once she did, she was even more determined to get there; Elliot's apartment. He had bought himself one again after he and Kathy separated again, this time in Manhattan so it wasn't so inconvenient.

She hardly even noticed as it started to rain, and didn't bother call a taxi even though she was still a few blocks from his apartment.

When she finally arrived, wet and cold, she had no idea what she was going to say. As determined as she'd been to get there, she suddenly realized she had no idea why.

After Elliot buzzed her in, she thought about not going up at all and turning around and going home. But no, she told herself, she couldn't do that.

Elliot had obviously been looking through the peephole in the door, because the second she rounded the corner to his hallway, the door opened. He looked worried, maybe even a little scared by her appearance. She was dripping wet from the rain, and since she'd put on makeup earlier, there were probably also trails of that coming down her face. In other words, she looked like shit and knowing Elliot, he probably thought Mitch had hurt her.

"God, Liv. What happened?" He asked. "Come in."

He held open the door for her and she stepped in, once again regretting come at all.

"Nothing happened, El." She said. "I'm sorry. I really don't know why I came here."

"Did that guy do something to hurt you? Because I swear to God if he did, I'm going to and kick his ass right now." Elliot said, the anger showing in his eyes.

"No…He didn't do anything. He was actually a really nice guy but…" She trailed off. She couldn't finish. She couldn't tell him she loved him. There were way too many risks, losing him being the main one. And there was no way in hell she could ever deal with that.

"What is it Liv?" He asked. "You know you can tell me anything." They had both somehow made their way to the couch, and his hand was resting on her arm.

"Nothing, Elliot." Olivia said, shaking her head. "God, what's wrong with me?" She asked, more to herself than to Elliot.

"Liv, please don't act like I'm stupid. There was a reason you came here, and I want you to tell me." Elliot said. He was concerned, and even though she denied that Mitch had hurt her, he had his doubts. He wasn't however, expecting what she said next.

"He told me he loved me, El." Olivia said softly. "He told me he loved me and I couldn't say it back. I couldn't lie to him like that. I just left… I walked out and I left him sitting there in the middle of a damn restaurant because he said he loved me. There's got to be something wrong with me!" As she talked, her voice raised until she was practically yelling. She shook her head and the tears came again. She started shaking and put her head in her hands, unable to even look at Elliot.

"Olivia, there is nothing wrong with you. Don't ever think something like that." He had moved his hands to where one rested on each of her shoulders.

She looked up at him, her tear stained face confused him, as did the way she was talking. It was like Liv. It was like the Liv he had grown to know…had grown to love.

"I…I know why I couldn't say it back. I know why I left." She said. Her voice was small, and if he hadn't been sitting right next to her, he was sure he wouldn't have even heard it.

"Why, Liv?" He asked.

"Because…because I love someone else." She said, bringing her eyes up to look at his, her voice a little nervous and embarrassed.

Elliot's heart sank. It felt like it was down all the way to his feet. There was another guy in Olivia's life. Another guy who she loved.

He didn't say anything back to her for a few a seconds, because he was afraid he was going to regret asking when she answered. "Who is it?"

"Damnit Elliot!" She yelled, shocking him. "Don't you fucking get it? Its you!" And just like that, the tears came again.

Elliot sat there for a minute, letting what had just happened sink in. And almost involuntarily his arms went around her, because he was too shocked to do anything that required thought.

"I love you too." Olivia was shocked to hear the words come out of her partner's mouth. She couldn't believe it was real. All the times she'd imagined and dreamt about them finally admitting they loved each other didn't half compare to that. The feeling was unbelieveable. It was the first time she'd ever really felt loved, because, as she'd heard people say many times before, theres no greater gift in life than to love and be loved back.

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**Hmm. I was actually expecting this to go a little different, but I acutally like the way it turned out. I think it was a lot different from many of the things I've written I'm kind of glad because it tells me I can write a variety of things. Once I really got it started, it kind of just flowed, like always. I don't really think it was the best thing I've ever written, but I don't think it was all that bad either. The only reason I even wrote it to begin with was to kind of get the feeling out of me. You know the whole "someone-loves-you-and-you-want-to-love-them-back-but-you-can't-because-you-love-someone-else" type of thing? Yeah. That's kind of where I am right now. That's actually how I got the whole idea. But enough about me, now REVIEW!**


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